There's more than one kind of "green" that's good for the economy...

"Supporting tailgate markets now makes more sense than ever." Editorial, Asheville Citizen-Times. 26 March 2009.

I was back at the AC-T this week, where I had the opportunity to not only read some amazing and insane letters, but also to do a bit of writing. I really enjoyed writing this editorial; it's on a subject pretty near and dear to my heart (who doesn't like fresh vegetables?) and makes a really important point, I think-- if you want to see change in your local economy, change the way you spend your money.

Thanks again to the excellent editors (Hi Dave! Hi Jim!) in the Editorial department at the AC-T for indulging me and making my writing better.

Clearing the Air

"Thornburg got it right with ruling on TVA pollution." Editorial, Asheville Citizen-Times, 22 January 2009.

I may have returned to Brown, but I'm still managing to write at the AC-T in spirit. Actually, I finished this editorial on my last day and it just now ran. This one was tough for me to write, because I knew almost nothing about coal power when I began. I'm really glad I had the opportunity to write this-- I wouldn't have done as much research about what is a really important issue. So now I know about coal. Hooray!

Still working on my editorial voice. For some reason, I'm less folksy and snarky when I'm writing as an editorial board. The editors at the AC-T were very patient with me and gave me good edits for this, as always.

Turn your head, cough, and ponder the health care crisis in this country...

"Let's not let health care slide during this recession." Editorial, Asheville Citizen-Times, 6 January 2009.

My first-ever editorial for any publication! It's fun yet terrifying to write as the opinion of the paper's editorial staff-- on one hand, you have the excitement, power and anonymity of writing the opinion of a group that holds high standing in a community; on the other, you have a feeling best described as "oh gosh what if i screw up and make everyone think the paper endorses bestiality*???" So it can be very hard to balance these two emotions when writing an editorial.

All in all, though, this was fun to write. It was a challenging assignment in many (good) ways, and I know I didn't fully capture the difficulty of the health care situation. There are some people who just can't afford health care, no matter what, and I feel kind of bad for telling them it's their duty to go to the doctor.

Fun game for readers: how many health care-related puns can you find in this editorial? First one to respond with the correct answer wins a comprehensive single-payer national health care system!


*For the record, the Asheville Citizen-Times does not endorse bestiality. Just in case that wasn't clear in the editorial